Those things on my mind

DESCRIPTION

A strange disease has spread throughout Equestria and when Rainbow Dash falls ill Celestia takes action, bringing a team together to discover the cause of the disease and build a cure before all of Equestria falls to it. The only hope is a single Earth Pony who seems immune to its affects, but what will they discover from the experiments performed on him?

"Sir...is this wise?" the pastel green unicorn asked of her commander. The stallion stood tall and proud, gazing at the test chamber. A bright pink scar raced down his left eye, clashing quite well against his dark grey coat and his frazzled black mane.
"This experiment was your idea AI, are you having second thoughts?" Commander Bolt asked her with a raised eyebrow. The mare quickly shook her head.

"N..No Sir, of course not sir. I just don't think its wise to take it this far. I wanted to try something small at first...but this...Sir this is madness. What if there is a breach? We could all be infected!" The mare began to panic and the Commander sighed.

"You wanted your chance to perform your little experiment and now you have it. Are you going through with it or not?" He asked. She bit her lip, glancing over at the stallion within the test chamber. His coat was a light chestnut color, his mane dark brown and absurdly curly, snaking its way down to his shoulders, almost hiding his piercing green eyes from view. There were many things strange about the stallion.

He had no name, no known family and on top of all that, he had no cutiemark. He was only referred to as Patient Zero, the only pony immune to an unknown disease and their only hope of finding a cure. Princess Celestia herself had tasked them with the responsibility, taking it upon herself to keep it as quiet as possible. The stallion within the chamber rolled his eyes and tapped a microphone.

"Hey doc are we gonna do this or not?" he asked. He couldn't see them through the one-way glass, but he knew they were there watching him. AI bit her lip, turning back to the console and sighed, blowing a bit of her cream colored mane out of her face and calming herself.

"Alright, adjusting repressor levels to three and seven respectively. Let loose when ready Zero." she said through the microphone. The stallion grinned and widened his stance. At first nothing happened, then it began. The stallions eyes began to glow dimly and the chamber began to shake.

AI lowered a pair of goggles over her eyes and gasped at what she saw. All around the stallion were strange particles filling the air with every color of the rainbow. His mane and tail lost their curls and became spiky and frizzled, sticking every which way as a chuckle escaped his lips. Her machines began to hiss and groan under the pressure.
"Sir its too much!" The unicorn yelled, pulling levers and adjusting dials in her magic, trying to ease some of the pressure.

"Keep going Patient Zero. We need to see the full extent of what we are dealing with." Bolt said through the microphone.
"IFFFFFF YOUUUUUUU SAAAAAAY SOOOO!" Zero yelled back, his body hunched slightly as the pressure doubled instantly. The chamber began to fill with smoke, AI staring with wide eyes.

"By Celestia...he's done it..." she muttered as the smoke began to clear. The stallions eyes were now pure white, his mane straight and streaked blonde with electricity dancing along his coat in quick short sparks.

"What are the readings AI?" Bolt asked, moving over to the console.
"Despite the parasites swarming around inside of him...everything seems normal, but his heart rate has tripled and his breathing has slowed. It doesn't make any sense. From all we've seen of the infected, the parasite takes a hold of the heart and brain and drains everything from them until theres nothing but an empty husk left over. It seems to be doing the opposite for him and rather than drain his strength its quadrupled it!" she said excitedly, a pen and pad furiously scribbling down notes in her magic.

"What I don't understand is why we only see this effect in others after the parasite has already killed them." She muttered, looking over her notes.
"HEY! CAN I RELAX NOW?!" He yelled, the one-way window cracking slightly.

"Yes!" AI yelled through the microphone. Zero let out a slow breath, the levels dropping instantly and his body returning to normal, though a few sparks still jumped across his body.
"When the buck are you gonna let me outta here?" he asked, tapping what he believed to be a camera.

"As soon as we find a cure." Bolt said, mashing a button with his hoof. Zero gasped and coughed as smoke filled the chamber, knocing him out instantly.
"Sir...was that really neccessary?" AI asked, standing from her console.

"We don't know if he is contagious and we can't risk finding out. You're the only pony who understands any of this, if we lose you then we lose everything. Get your team together and get him moved back to his containment cell. I want eyes on him at all times and I want to hear good news the next time I see you." the mare tried to reason with her commander, but he simply waved her away with his hoof and left. She sighed, turning her eyes to the chamber and the now sleeping earth pony. There had to be a better way to handle this situation.